Milliken on March 15 announced its decision to pull out of Surfaces 2006. FCW editor Kim Gavin recently spoke with Eric Dunkleberg, vice president of marketing, to find out why and to see what’s next for the company.

Milliken on March 15 announced its decision to pull out of Surfaces 2006. FCW editor Kim Gavin recently spoke with Eric Dunkleberg, vice president of marketing, to find out why and to see what’s next for the company.

Why did Milliken decide to pull out of Surfaces 06?

It’s pretty simple. Even though we saw increased one-on-one time with dealers since Shaw and Mohawk pulled out, people are not making purchasing decisions at the shows. They are waiting for the Carpet One or the Abbey shows. We end up with all the cost of supporting those shows as well. Even a good number of independents are waiting to buy in their stores as opposed to the show. It’s just not worth the financial return of being at Surfaces.

We evaluated different options, including a downsized booth with less product and people. But each scenario didn’t make sense. Instead, we’re going to focus on the buying group shows and regional shows that are supporting our one-on-one contact. We have a real strong relationship business -- strong relationships with our dealer and distribution network -- to build off of that we think will really help our cause.

So it’s not the lack of quality and quantity of visitor?

The No. 1 reason is they are waiting to buy, so you’re duplicating costs by being at the other shows. I do think dealer attendance is also down. But that would be a No. 2 factor and not a No. 1 factor. Within the numbers Hanley Wood reports there are an increased number of exhibitors. I think the actual number of dealers is down.

How have your product introductions done at Surfaces and at the various group events you’ve attended?

It’s been very strong. The majority of the purchases happened post Surfaces. So we saw a tremendous amount of activity at Carpet One and Flooring America for example. It’s been excellent. We’ve gotten more placements on the Allure Collection and more rug placement than we’ve had in any other year.

How are sales going for the first 2-1/2 months of the year?

For our fiscal year, which starts in December, our sales are up. They are not up as much as we’d like them to be, but they are up.

So what’s next for Milliken?

Continuing to build the categories. We’ll continue to watch the panel category. There’s more coming. Continue to watch pattern broadloom and rugs and build from where we are.

When you say more coming in panels, is that more from Milliken or do you see competitors getting into it?
From us. You’ll see more coming out in panels this year. Arriving now in Home Depot stores is another product called Legato Don. It’s a lighter-weight texture as opposed to the other two that have been out: Tessarae and Legato Origin, which are friezes, and Spectrum, which is more of a frieze but going toward a texture. This new one is much more of a texture, and it’s a lighter-weight version. It will be coming out in carpet specialty stores later this year. There are some others we are working on I can’t talk about yet.